By Linda Quinn From Brixton Blog November 9 2018

A remembrance service will be held in Brixton on Sunday 11 November to mark 100 years since World War l ended. The service begins at 12.50pm  at The African and Caribbean War Memorial in Windrush Square.

This year’s Remembrance Sunday parade, which falls on Armistice Day, will start with African drumming followed by prayers and a libation. High commissioners, veterans, military personnel, and special guests will be among those present at the event organised by the Nubian Jak Community Trust,

A one-minute silence will be observed before a bugler plays the Last Post and wreaths are laid. This will be followed by a military march past the African and Caribbean War Memorial, finishing up with a bronze plaque unveiling.

The ceremony will also include a special tribute to Walter Tull, who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country two months before Britain’s involvement in WWI came to an end. He was one of an estimated 2 million African and Caribbean military personnel who lost their lives during the conflicts of both World Wars.

Nubian Jak Community Trust founder Dr Jak Beula said: “One of the positive consequences of the last four years commemorating WWI has been that African and Caribbean contributions to Britain’s military successes have become better known. We still have some way to go before the totality and consequences are better known, but the genie is out of the bottle.”

The Black Cultural Archives on Windrush Square said in a statement that “Black history is British history and we proudly recognise their sacrifice”.

It said that, In some ways, history was repeating itself with the Ministry of Defence’s recent drive to recruit Commonwealth nationals to the British army “proving, once again, that Britain relies upon African and Caribbean people to retain its military strength”.

“It is absolutely essential that the histories of African and Caribbean people in Britain continue to be told,” the statement said.

Armistice Remembrance Service

11 November 12:50 – 14:00pm

African and Caribbean War Memorial

Windrush Square Brixton London  SW2 1EF

After the official ceremony on Windrush Square, Lambeth Mayor Christopher Wellbelove will welcome veterans and their families at a reception and medal awards ceremony in Lambeth Town Hall.  Speeches will be followed by a play about Walter Tull.

Major Dan Staples, commanding officer of 253 Provost Company that is based at Upper Tulse Hill, said: “It will be a real honour, as Brixton’s Army Reserve unit, to be able to join with the community in Windrush Square and remember those African and Caribbean men and women who have given their lives in both World Wars and around the world since 1945.”

Other local remembrance events will include:

A Lambeth Town Hall remembrance service and wreath laying ceremony from 9am. The event will start with a procession from Windrush Square to the town hall at 8.50am. Cllr Ibrahim Dogus, Lambeth’s deputy mayor, will lead the town hall ceremony.

Public services at
Stockwell Memorial Gardens (next to Stockwell Underground Station), Clapham Road, SW9 9BE, starting at 10.45am
Albert Carr Gardens War Memorial, at the corner of the High Road and Streatham Common Northside, SW16 3HF at 10.30am
Kennington Park War Memorial – a parade organised by the local Royal British Legion will assemble at the junction of Braganza Street and Doddington Grove from where it will proceed at 10.35am, marching passing Kennington Underground Station and onto Kennington Road to arrive at Kennington Park Memorial at 11am for a service and wreath laying.
The S.O.E Agents Monument, Lambeth Palace Road, SE1. at 10.30am
Vincennes War Memorial, Vincennes Estate, Hamilton Road, SE27 9RX, at 3pm.

IMAGE: West Indian Association of Service Personnel (WASP) parade in Windrush Square

For more on this story go to: http://www.brixtonblog.com/brixton-marks-100-years-since-ww1-with-remembrance-service-for-african-and-caribbean-forces/53898